James Nicoll Reviews

The Age of Calamities by Senaa Ahmad (January 2026)

For fans of Karen Russell and Carmen Maria Machado, The Age of Calamities is a genre-defying, mind-bending collection of absurdist, funny, and speculative short stories.

In this bold and enchanting collection Senaa Ahmad takes license with history and its players, sending the reader on a thrilling ride. In ​“Let’s Play Dead,” Henry VIII wants Anne Boleyn gone, but there’s a tiny problem — she keeps coming back to life no matter what he does. ​“Choose Your Own Apocalypse” hurls readers back to 1945, where they assume the role of a technician for the Manhattan Project, surrounded by labyrinthine paths and harrowing outcomes. And ​“Inside the House of the Historian” invites us to a dinner party turned murder mystery full of figures like Nefertiti, Queen Victoria, John Adams, and Marilyn Monroe. These stories and others entice readers to confront the past, the present, and themselves all at once. Zany and haunting, inviting and brilliant, each poignant tale delves into surreal nature of today through the lens of yesterday, charting the tragicomic yet hopeful act of living.

The Age of Calamities is an evocation of life and death on history’s unsteady margins, of how to reckon with the blunt-force trauma of ill-fated times. Fiercely clever and wildly inventive, this debut establishes Senaa Ahmad as a literary force. 

Cathedral of the Drowned by Nathan Ballingrud (October 2025)

The sequel to Crypt of the Moon Spider, Cathedral of the Drowned is a dripping, squirming, scuttling tale of altered bodies and minds. 

There are two halves of Charlie Duchamp. One is a brain in a jar, stranded on Jupiter’s jungle moon, Io, who just wants to go home. The other is hanging on the wall of Barrowfield Home on Earth’s own moon, host to the eggs of the Moon Spider and filled with a murderous rage. 

On Io, deep in the flooded remains of a crashed cathedral ship, lives a giant centipede called The Bishop, who has taken control of the drowned astronauts inside. Both Charlies converge here, stalking each other in the haunted ruins, while a new Moon Spider prepares to hatch. 

Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories by Terry Bisson (October 2025)

From acclaimed master of science fiction, Terry Bisson, Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories brings together his Hugo Award-winning short story with eighteen other classics 

Bears Discover Fire is the first short story collection by Terry Bisson, author of such brilliant novels as Talking Man and Voyage to the Red Planet. It brings together nineteen of Bisson’s finest works for the first time in one volume, among them the darkly comic title story, which garnered the field’s highest honors, including the Hugo, Nebula, Theodore Sturgeon, and Locus awards. 

A Fate So Cold by Amanda Foody & C. L. Herman (November 2025)

TWO CHOSEN ONES WITH ONE CHOICE: THE WORLD OR EACH OTHERA Fate So Cold is the first of a new blockbuster duology from the New York Times bestselling authors of All of Us Villains, Amanda Foody & C. L. Herman. 

For most of the year, Summer reigns peacefully over Alderland. Then, for six brutal weeks, Winter rages, obliterating towns and wreaking casualties. Magicians bond with powerful wands of Summer to defend the nation, a duty that costs many their lives. 

Domenic Barrow never wanted such responsibility — but destiny hasn’t granted him a choice. The greatest Summer wand has awakened for the first time in a century, warning that an icy cataclysm looms on the horizon. And despite his reputation as the least suited of his classmates, the wand Chooses Domenic to wield it. 

Ellery Caldwell spent years striving to be a perfect Summer magician — and burying her fears of her own power. But her worst suspicions are proven true when she accidentally creates the first ever Winter wand. 

Now, as the unprecedented Chosen Two, Domenic and Ellery must thwart the oncoming cataclysm together. And in trying to fulfill their destinies, they wonder if they were brought together for a second fate: to fall in love. 

Until they discover the unthinkable truth. The Chosen Two aren’t fated allies, but eternal rivals, and the only way to save their home is for one of them to slay the other. 

This is no love story. It’s a tragedy. 

The Last Vampire by Romina Garber (December 2025)

Pride & Prejudice meets Crave when Austen-loving Lorena Navarro attends a new boarding school expecting to find her own Mr. Darcy, but accidentally finds the world’s last vampire instead!Pride comes before the fall. 

When a boarding school opens in a once-condemned Victorian manor buried in the woods of New Hampshire, Austen-loving Lorena Navarro enrolls in hopes of finding her own Mr. Darcy. Instead, she stumbles across a coffin and accidentally awakens the world’s last vampire. 

After hibernating for nearly three centuries, William Pride is desperate to find his family — and clueless about the modern world. Relying on Lorena for more than just blood, he enrolls at the school to catch up on all he’s missed. 

Soon, William uncovers a chilling truth: He is the last hope for his kind’s return to power. Torn between protecting the humans around him and fulfilling his fate, William must make a choice that could change everything. Will he sacrifice his species for love … or will he embrace his dark destiny at last? 

Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibanez (January 2026)

She was never meant to be seen. Now she’s a weapon the world can’t ignore.

As a sculptress, Ravenna Maffei has always shaped beauty from stone but she has a terrible secret. Desperate to save her brother, she enters a competition hosted by Florence’s most feared immortal family, revealing a dark power in a city where magic is forbidden.

Now a captive in the cutthroat city of Florence, Ravenna is forced into a dangerous task where failure meets certain death at the hands of Saturnino dei Luni, the immortal family’s mesmerizing but merciless heir. But as he draws her closer, Ravenna realizes the true threat lies beyond Florence’s walls.

The Pope’s war against magic is closing in, and Ravenna is no longer just a prisoner but a prize to be claimed. As trusting the wrong person becomes lethal, Ravenna must survive the treacherous line between a pope’s obsession and the seductive immortal who might be the end of her — or surrender her power to a city on the brink of war. 

Empire of the Dawn by Jay Kristoff (November 2025)

From holy cup comes holy light;

The faithful hand sets world aright.

And in the Seven Martyrs’ sight,

Mere man shall end this endless night.

Gabriel de León has lost his family, his faith, and his last hope of ending the endless night — his surrogate daughter, Dior. With no desire left but vengeance, he and a band of loyal brothers journey into the war-torn heart of the Augustin Empire to claim the life of the Forever King.

Unbeknownst to the Last Silversaint, the Grail still lives — speeding towards Augustin’s besieged capital in the frail hope of ending Daysdeath forever. But deadly treachery awaits within the halls of power, and the Forever King’s legions march ever closer. Gabriel and Dior will be drawn into a final battle that will shape the very fate of the Empire, but as the sun sets for what may the last time, there will be no-one left for them to trust.

Not even each other. 

The Monster and the Last Blood Match by K. A. Linde (June 2025)

For Reyna Carpenter, giving up her body isn’t a choice — it’s survival.

In a world where humans are currency and vampires rule from the shadows, Reyna accepts a high-paying position among the wealthy and ruthless elite. Her new job: a live-in blood escort for the enigmatic and dangerously powerful Beckham Anderson. She expects cruelty. She expects hunger. She expects to become his next meal.

But Beckham won’t drink from her.

He keeps his distance, his unreadable gaze shadowed by something far more dangerous than just desire. As the nights pass, Reyna begins to sense it — an invisible war being waged around her, secrets that twist through the corridors of Visage, and whispers of something far more valuable than power.

Because Reyna isn’t just rare — she’s the key to something bigger than she ever imagined. And the reason Beckham refuses to taste her blood?

It might not just change them — it might destroy everything. 

Westward Women by Alice Martin (March 2026)

For fans of Emma Cline and Emily St. John Mandel, Westward Women is a hypnotic and hopeful debut — part fever dream, part dystopian road trip.

It starts with an itch.

In homes across the country, women ages eighteen to thirty-five begin to slow down.

Tired. Blank. Restless.

Drawn to the Pacific Ocean like it’s calling them home. They abandon their lives — jobs, families, their very selves. And once they reach the West, they vanish forever.

At the center of the story are three young women caught in the pull of something unstoppable.

Aimee follows the trail of her missing best friend to a man called the Piper — known for leading infected women West.

Teenie, afflicted and unraveling, clings to a single memory as she looks out the window of the Piper’s van. 

And Eve, a former journalist, is chasing the story that might just consume her.

Each on the edge of transformation. Drawn toward the unknown. In search of a way forward. 

Dead Fake by Vincent Ralph (January 2026)

Welcome to Bleak Haven: The town you won’t (or can’t!) leave…

Deep fake murders have taken over the high school, but what happens when they start to become real?

Would you Swipe to Die?

When the new craze takes over Bleak Haven High, Ava Wilson refuses to join in. As the niece of an infamous murderer, it’s the last thing she needs. The mysterious website allows people to view their own ​‘death’ – an AI generated version of their final slasher-movie-moments. But, when some of her classmates’ deepfakes are replicated in real life, Ava will either catch the killer…or be the next victim. 

The Unwritten Rules of Magic by Harper Ross (January 2026) 

The Unwritten Rules of Magic is a spellbinding novel that blends magic and memory in an unforgettable journey through love, grief, and the cost of perfection across three generations of women.

Emerson Clarke can’t remember a time when she felt in control of her life. Her father — a celebrated author — blew in and out of her childhood like a hurricane until he got Alzheimer’s. Her mother numbed loneliness with gin. And recently, her teen daughter has shut her out without explanation. The only place Emerson has ever been in charge is in front of the keyboard where, as a ghostwriter, she dictates everything that happens on the page. If only she could arrange reality the same way, life could be perfect. An impossible fantasy — or so she believes until she makes a startling discovery.

After her father’s wake, Emerson steals her father’s vintage typewriter — the very one he’d forbidden anyone to touch — and tests its keys by typing out a frivolous wish. After it comes true the very next day, she tries another. When those words also spring to life, she becomes obsessed with using the typewriter to engineer happiness for herself and her daughter. Easier said than done.

As Emerson shapes her real-life circumstances, she uncovers disturbing truths about her family’s history and the unexpected cost for each story-come-true. She should destroy the typewriter, but when her daughter’s secret finally emerges, Emerson is torn between paying the price for bending fate and embracing the uncertainty of an unscripted life. 

The Bone Queen by Will Shindler (February 2026)

A chilling horror-thriller debut where a mother’s search for her missing daughter battles against the shadows of a historic, dangerous legend. 

Single mother Jenna arrives on the tranquil shores of Athelsea fueled by the desperate hope to find Chloe, her teenage daughter who’s disappeared from their London home. She has no idea why – all she knows is that Chloe had changed in the previous two weeks, haunted by something, or someone, and the ferry ticket here is the only clue she has. 

As she explores the village and interacts with the locals, Jenna soon realizes a macabre secret is being hidden in plain sight. A dark legend of a vengeful woman called the Bone Queen is spoken of in hushed tones amongst the villagers, some of whom are frantically trying to suppress the tale that has long terrorized their lives. As Jenna starts to learn more about the Bone Queen and her previous victims, the village’s grip on reality begins to loosen and no one can say for sure who, or what, is responsible for the deaths and disappearances on Athelsea. Suffering from what she can no longer distinguish between paranoid hallucinations or real manifestations, Jenna must act quickly before Chloe is next… The Bone Queen has left her mark, and one day she’ll collect. 

This Gilded Abyss by Rebecca Thorne (November 2025)

She should have known Kessandra would fight back. 

Consigned as Kessandra’s bodyguard, Nix grudgingly boards the Luminosity, a luxurious submersible that offers the only transportation to Fall. But Kessandra wasn’t truthful – surprise, surprise – and her ​“investigation” isn’t about the massacre, but rather what caused it: an illness that incites its victims into a violent craze. 

When another royal is brutally murdered, Nix and Kess realize the disease has spread – and no one on the Luminosity is safe. If they’re going to survive until Fall, they’ll have to trust each other… but considering Kessandra is responsible for Quian’s death, that won’t be easy. 

A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo (October 2025)

Trapped in the mansion of a sinister magistrate, Chih and Almost Brilliant must learn what happened in Baolin when the famine came to call, and they must do so quickly… because the things in the shadows are only growing hungrier. 

Trace Elements by Jo Walton & Ada Palmer (March 2026)

From two of the most acclaimed writers in the field today, a groundbreaking look at how SF and fantasy writing — and reading! — work.

Jo Walton and Ada Palmer are two of the most innovative and insightful writers to emerge in the SF and fantasy genres in this century. As writers of fiction they’ve each won multiple awards. As commenters on SF and fantasy in print and in visual media, they’ve both sparked new conversations that expanded our imaginations and understanding of how SF and fantasy work, and what more it could be doing.

Now, in Trace Elements, Walton and Palmer have come together to write a book-length and supremely entertaining look at modern science fiction and fantasy, at how our genre is written and how it is read, that will join nonfiction works like Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Language of the Night, Samuel R. Delany’s The Jewel-Hinged Jaw, and Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud on the short shelf of titles essential to all readers of our genre.

Subjects covered include the nature of genre itself, the history of SF publishing, the implicit contract between author and reader, the ways SF and fantasy disguise themselves as one another, what SF&F can learn from outside influences ranging from Shakespeare to Diderot to anime, the role of complicity in reading, the need to expand our ​“sphere of empathy”, and finally the need for optimism, the importance of rejecting ​“purity” culture, and the fact that the human story for centuries to come will be composed of hard work. 

Good Intentions by Marisa Walz (February 2026)

A deft and immersive psychological suspense debut about a luxury party planner who becomes obsessed with a woman she encounters in a hospital waiting room.

Cady has worked hard to have a good life. She has a thriving luxury event-planning business, the man she’s loved since she was seventeen, and a social calendar she can barely keep up with. She also has Dana, her identical twin, her beyond best friend, her most trusted confidante. When Cady gets a call that Dana has been in a serious accident and arrives moments too late to say goodbye, her world falls apart.

But to Cady’s family’s growing concern and confusion, it’s not Dana’s death that consumes her. It’s Morgan, a grieving mother Cady encountered in the hospital waiting room, the day her sister died. It can’t be a coincidence, that they both experienced tragedy at the same moment, in the same place — Cady doesn’t believe in coincidences. Instead, she is convinced that she must help this stranger overcome her tragedy, in order to come to terms with her own.

Or…is there more to it? Is it possible that Cady wants something else from Morgan? Something she can’t even admit to herself?

Slyly twisted and deeply provocative, Good Intentions captures the moral ambiguity that can arise in the face of impossible choices. Like the aftermath of a car accident — and against your better judgment — you won’t be able to look away.